John, Lori, and sons explore God's world

we’re flying to the US tomorrow for Grandma’s funeral

My grandma died a few days ago at age 90. I couldn’t have asked for a better grandma. My relatives who are reading this are nodding to themselves in agreement, as are lots of other people who knew her.

Grandma, Mom, and Little D on her Gator last year

Grandma lived just down the road from my parents until last year. After it got too hard for her to walk out in her yard, she drove a John Deere gator around the yard. In this picture, she was driving through a harvested field from her house to my parents’ house. A year ago, she moved into assisted living in Des Moines.

Grandma holding my nephew last year

John and I had planned to be in Solomons for two more weeks, until April 3. However, the timing of flights and Grandma’s funeral has allowed us to change our tickets and get back to Iowa a few days before the funeral. Today we moved our tickets up two weeks, and tomorrow we’ll fly from here back to the U.S. Our colleagues here encouraged us to make the trip back to the U.S. They said we’ll never regret making the trip, but we might regret not making it. They’ve helped a lot today by watching D and helping us pack, and they’ve offered to clean some things up after us, like take care of the food in our fridge and pantry. So this trip in Solomons is a tiny bit shorter than planned, but Lord willing we’ll return here several months after the baby is born. Please pray for safe and easy travel, that all the airline connections will go smoothly, and that D will do well with the lengthy travel.